Polk County Education
12A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • March 22, 2017
Dallas high could
add new programs
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
Lilly Gallagher’s Eggception shows promise when it comes to keeping her egg safe from the 20-story free fall.
Physics helps keep eggs safe
By Emily Mentzer
The Itemizer-Observer
INDEPENDENCE — Lilly
Gallagher was fairly confi-
dent that her contraption
would keep her egg from
breaking.
Her project was an open
cardboard box with support
tape wrapped around the
center of each edge. In the
middle, her egg was sus-
pended with tights — noth-
ing cushioning the cargo.
But once the Polk County
Fire District No. 1’s ladder
truck — 20 stories high —
was set, Gallagher had a
twinge of doubt.
“I’m looking how far that
is up, and it just seems im-
possible,” she said.
Gallagher is a senior at
Central High School in Greg
Craven’s physics class. The
egg drop is a project to test
students’ knowledge of
physics.
“We had to abide by a lot
of different parameters,”
Gallagher said. “For exam-
EMILY MENTZER/Itemizer-Observer
Some eggs survived the giant drop, others didn’t.
ple, it couldn’t be a solid box
because we didn’t want to
have a lot of drag.”
Unlike an egg drop proj-
ect in eighth grade, the one
in high school is not about
slowing the egg down,
Craven said.
“The physics we’ve been
studying is being able to
manage, you’ve got some-
thing going and then you
want it to stop,” he said. “How
do you make that happen
without destroying the thing.”
Students built their con-
traptions with the idea of a
fast fall, followed by a slow
stop, Craven said.
“They want to manage it
so that, after the impact
starts, the slowing down
happens over a long period
of time, because that’s the
small force that doesn’t
break the egg.”
The egg itself could be
wrapped in a container no
larger than a liter, and sur-
rounded with a cushion
such as foam or padding.
Because of the spectacular
mess it makes, peanut but-
ter and Jello were off this
year’s list of approved
padding, Craven said.
The project caps the class’
study on momentum, he
added.
“It’s fun because I want
my kids to learn in different
ways, and this is different
than sitting there and taking
in information or discussion
or reading,” Craven said.
“This is a chance for them to
problem solve, and I think
that really is a life skill,
which is why I do this.”
Gallagher said she hoped
the outer part of her con-
traption would act as crum-
ple zones found on cars.
See EGG, Page 6A
DALLAS — Of people who do not finish high school, 80
percent say that they didn’t see how the skills they were
learning in school would help them after graduation.
Tim Ray, Dallas School District’s career and technical
education coordinator, presented that statistic at a joint
meeting between the Dallas City Council and Dallas
School Board on March 13.
“They didn’t connect with what they were being taught
in school,” he said. “They didn’t see how it was going to re-
late to them after they left.”
He thinks successful CTE programs can be a remedy to
that.
“High school students involved in CTE are more en-
gaged, perform better and graduate at higher rates,” Ray
said.
He said nationwide, students in CTE programs graduat-
ed at 93 percent. Their counterparts not participating in a
program graduated at 80 percent. In Oregon, the differ-
ence is bigger, 91 percent for CTE students compared to
75 percent who were not.
Dallas High School has only two accredited pro-
grams — meaning they offer enough classes for two cred-
its — agricultural science, and technology and engineer-
ing. Within those two areas, the graduation rate is 94 per-
cent.
“That is my challenge to myself: To increase those op-
portunities for students to find their passion or — just as
importantly — figure out what they don’t want to do,” Ray
said.
A former agricultural teacher in Dallas, Ray has re-
turned to lead the district’s effort to develop CTE pro-
grams.
Ray said Dallas could easily develop up to four more
areas of study in addition to its accredited agricultural sci-
ence, and technology and engineering programs. The dis-
trict is halfway to developing an information and commu-
nication technology program.
He said the school could add education, health science,
and culinary arts.
“That’s the low-hanging fruit that I think we can get to
fairly easily,” Ray said. “The classes are there, we have
teachers teaching them. It’s a matter of organizing them
and getting some context around them.”
Other options, though they would require more plan-
ning, are business and manufacturing.
Ray said modern CTE programs are not the vocational
courses of yesteryear. They are open to all students and
offer options for jobs out of high school or continuing ed-
ucation.
For that reason, the programs at high schools need to
meet standards of those offered at community colleges.
Making sure programs teach skills needed by local in-
dustry is key, Ray said. The district will ask business own-
ers and professionals to work on committees designing
the programs.
“I believe this will work. I can’t do it by myself. This has
to be a community effort,” Ray said.
“If we start producing skilled workers, guess what will
come? I believe skilled jobs will come. Skilled jobs pay
well.”